Asia-Pacific were mixed after the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked rates by 25 basis points as widely expected, bringing the federal funds rate range to 5%-5.25% — its highest level since August 2007.
Markets in Japan were shuttered for holiday.
Meantime, Some Japanese lenders are reluctant to take part in Japan’s 550 billion yen ($4.1 billion) syndicated loan to finance the construction of a casino in Osaka after receiving government approval, Nikkei reported.
The report said some of the 20 or so expected to join the effort have “grown more skittish” after seeing global casinos shut down after the pandemic as well as growing local worries on gambling addiction and public safety.
MUFG Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. are serving as lead arrangers for the syndicated loan, Nikkei reported. The two banks are expected to contribute between 200 billion yen and 300 billion yen in funding, the report added.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng regained 249.57 points, to 19,948.73.
The Fed in its post-meeting statement hinted at a possible pause in hikes ahead. It omitted a sentence present in the previous statement saying that “the Committee anticipates that some additional policy firming may be appropriate” for the Fed to achieve its 2% inflation goal.
Australian markets are down, as the country’s trade surplus widened to AU$15.27 billion in March.
CHINA
China’s factory activity fell into contraction for the first time in three months, with the Caixin China purchasing managers’ index reading sliding to 49.5.
The CSI 300 index nosed up 1.16 points to 4,030.25.
Stocks in mainland China were mixed after returning from the Labor Day holiday.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times index gained 7.17 points, or 0.2%, to 3,269.18.
In Korea, the Kospi eased back 0.46 points to 2,500.94.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index recovered 55.62 points, or 0.4%, to 15,609.03.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 grabbed 60.57 points, or 0.5%, to 11,968.56.
In Australia, the ASX 200 dipped 4.29 points, or 0.1%, to 7,193.11.
